


The Fourth Annual Maliwan V.I.P. Afterparty on the Zanara

by fudges



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Cat Cafés, Cybernetics, M/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 03:24:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21219761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fudges/pseuds/fudges
Summary: To Rhys Strongfork and Whoever He Wants To Bring:You are cordially invited to the Maliwan V.I.P. afterparty on the Zanara immediately following the Annual Weapons Manufacturer Sales Conference held on Eunomia.We Can't Wait To See You There!





	The Fourth Annual Maliwan V.I.P. Afterparty on the Zanara

Rhys fidgeted with his tie, tightening the knot slightly, before loosening it again. Him, and a small group of his higher-ups within Atlas were standing on the gangplank of the Zanara. It was the ‘pleasure yacht’ of some executive or something in Maliwan named Katagawa Junior. Rhys had never heard of him before, but apparently his parties after these sales conferences were fairly legendary, and were well-known for only accepting Maliwan employees. The fact that Rhys, and “whoever he wanted to bring” had received invitations was apparently a big deal. He’d accepted, with some trepidation. That sense of foreboding had only increased as the time for the party had gotten closer and closer.

Katagawa Jr. was a wild card. He’d heard of a couple different Katagawas within the corporate structure of Maliwan, which was weird on its own. Katagawa wasn’t a common name.

There was a tall man with incredibly gelled hair standing next to the door of the Zanara, and Rhys let his eyes linger on him for a second. Apparently sensing his gaze, the man looked back, and his look of cool disinterest turned into a look of surprise, and then a smirk. He started making his way down the gangplank towards the small group of Atlas employees. 

Rhys’ VP of Marketing poked him in the back, hard and loudly whispered “That’s Katagawa!”

Rhys straightened up immediately, dropping his tie, and standing up straighter. Katagawa was...taller, than he had expected, almost as tall as Zero, and he cut a slim figure. Rhys sucked it in unconsciously..

“Rhys! So good to finally meet you.” Katagawa extended his hand, immediately. “We at Maliwan can’t wait to make you all...comfortable.”

Rhys awkwardly smiled back at him. “Thanks, Katagawa. We’re all super excited to be here. For sure.”

Katagawa tilted his head to the side, and took just a couple seconds too long to drop Rhys’ hand. “Of course. Now, follow me, all of you. We want our special guests to see Maliwan’s hospitality first, after all.” He pulled on Rhys’ shoulder until he was standing next to him and waved a hand at all of Rhys’ employees, striding up the gangplank and onto the Zanara proper. Rhys gave his employees a covert thumbs-up, before Katagawa pulled him a different way.

The other man spoke dismissively. “The rabble can stay back there.” Katagawa turned his attention fully to Rhys, smirking at him again. “Now, Rhys, I’m not sure what you’re used to with Atlas, but here at Maliwan, we like the finer things in life.” They began to pass through a slightly larger crowd, and Katagawa had to raise his voice. “So. What would you like to do? We’ve got four cat cafes, a zero-g swimming pool…” Katagawa paused expectantly, and Rhys blurted out the first thing that came into his head.

“I don’t have my swimsuit on.”

Katagawa laughed. “For you? Not necessary. But never mind, let’s start with a drink.”

Rhys raised his eyebrows. “Oh...yup! Sure.”

They came to a stop next to a huge round booth, and Katagawa slid into one side. He looked up at Rhys, and gestured for him to sit down. Rhys did, squishing into the soft seat. They sat in silence for a second, before Rhys mustered himself to say something.

“You know, I’ve been to cat cafes before. I wouldn’t really consider them ‘the finer things’, y’know?”

Katagawa clicked his tongue. “Yes, but you haven’t been to one with our special genetically engineered cats. They’re designed to be fluffier and purr louder.” As he talked, he tapped the table, and a menu of drinks appeared on the surface. “More consumer satisfaction.”

Rhys attempted to read the menu upside-down, as Katagawa scrolled through it incredibly fast. “What do we want to drink, hmm... Let’s start with champagne. It’s traditional, after all.” He looked up at Rhys. “Is that okay with you?”  
Rhys started to nod, and Katagawa looked down again. “Great. We’ll do that, then.”

He tapped something, and what felt like four seconds later a waiter was at their table, pouring two flutes of incredibly expensive champagne. Katagawa picked his glass up and swirled it for a second before taking a drink. After a second, Rhys followed suit, taking a small sip. He then placed his flute down, and looked up at Katagawa.

“Soo, what did you think of the conference?”

Katagawa put his glass down, and propped his hands up on his laced fingers, smiling cockily. “It was hilarious. I don’t even know why Tediore bothers showing up at these things. They never have anything new.”

Rhys laughed, almost despite himself. “Yeah, they mastered digistruction, and then just stopped completely.”

Katagawa nodded. “Meanwhile, at Maliwan, we’ve doubled the amount of elements you can use with any one gun.”

Rhys snorted. “Yeah, to two.”

Katagawa looked at him, one eyebrow raised in a way that Rhys couldn't help but want to emulate. “Atlas isn’t exactly back to ‘guns that make you feel like a god’ yet, so careful, there. Meanwhile our marketing campaign on the Edens is working amazingly. We’re seeing record setting sales numbers on them. How about you, Rhys?”

Rhys coughed in the middle of sipping his drink. “Me? Atlas? Uh, well, mostly we’ve been attempting to change demos. Appeal to a wider demographic than people who have enough money, and the inclination to build a private airforce. A slightly more meticulous market, maybe.”

Katagawa’s smile widened. “Is that going well?”

Rhys wavered again, for a second. “It’s going okay. I mean, it’s a hard left as changes go, but it’s going okay.”

Katagawa drank the rest of his champagne before responding. “Well, good. Glad your company can keep you in horrible ties.” He pushed himself to his feet and gestured for Rhys to follow him. 

“Let’s go do something else. What else would you like to do?”

Rhys started, and threw back the rest of his champagne before hopping to his feet. "Uhm, well." He considered. Nude swimming, or cats.

The choice was fairly obvious.

“Let’s go check out one of those cat cafes. I like cats.”

Katagawa looked at him, with some slight surprise. “Do you? I love cats.” This, unlike many things Katagawa said, sounded genuine.

Rhys nodded. “I’ve had a few cats in my life.”

Katagawa began walking, and Rhys followed him, adjusting his tie again.

“Do you have one now?” Katagawa sounded curious. 

Rhys shook his head. “No, not enough time, with the company and all.”

Katagawa nodded. “Would you like to have one again?”

Rhys shrugged. “Yeah, of course. I miss having a cat. They’re the best.”

They passed from the dark interior of the room they’d been into a bright hallway, and Rhys blinked in pain for a second. 

Katagawa smiled, and then ushered Rhys into a room. The label above the door proclaimed it “Meowliwan” and Rhys groaned internally. 

Inside was a fairly stereotypical cat cafe, with charmingly mismatched furniture and whimsical art pieces on the walls, most involving cats. It was kitscher than was common for Maliwan, which had to be the result of some focus group somewhere.

Two Maliwan employees immediately jumped up from the prime table in the middle of the room. Katagawa waited for a second as they stumbled away from the table, and then slid into one of the vacated seats.

Rhys slid into the other one, giving an apologetic smile to the employees. A small woman, dressed in black clothes with a white apron over it came up to them, smiling invitingly. 

“Mr. Katagawa, sir. What can I get for you and Mr. Strongfork?”

Katagawa waved a hand, not looking at her. “Whatever’s popular.”

She nodded and left. 

A gray, fluffy cat jumped onto Rhys’ lap and he stroked it absently with his prosthetic arm.

“Mr. Katagawa? Is that your last name?”

Katagawa laughed. “Of course. Did you think it was my first?”

Rhys stared down at the kitty.

Katagawa’s smirk returned and he leaned forward. “No, Katagawa is my last name. I’ve got the same first name as my father. If people don’t call me Katagawa, they tend to use Junior.”

A bit of the cat’s fur got stuck in one of the crevices of Rhys’ hand, and he lifted his hand off as cat dug its claws in. “Junior?”

“Yup. Junior. When you’ve got twelve older siblings, at a certain point they just run out of names.”

Rhys sat back in his chair, amused. “Jeez, that’s kinda horrible.”

Katagawa leaned back too, and spread his hands out. “It is what it is. All of my siblings are in the Maliwan power-structure too, to some degree or another. One of my older brothers is set to inherit.”

Rhys hummed. “I’d assumed you were, for some reason.”

Katagawa smiled enigmatically. “Well-”

Right at that moment, the woman came back, holding a tray with two drinks along with a small slice of cake. She set it down on the table in front of them, and then pulled two forks out of a pocket in her apron, setting them down too.  
Katagawa- Junior- Katagawa pushed one of the cups over to Rhys’ side, and nudged one of the forks toward him. He then lifted his own fork, and took a tiny bite of the cake, and then took a sip of coffee. A small orange and white cat rubbed it’s face along his shin, and he glanced down at it, smiling genuinely. 

Rhys observed him as he took his own bite of cake, eyes widening at the flavor. “This is pretty good!”

“Of course, it’s Maliwan. We’re the best.”

Rhys took another tiny forkful of cake, doing his absolute best to be polite, when Katagawa suddenly spoke again. 

“Your arm. Where’d you get it from?”

Rhys looked down at his flesh arm for a second, questioning, before he realized. “Oh, the prosthetic! I- uh, well, I used to work for Hyperion, and I got it to get ahead with data-mining. Worked pretty well, ‘till it didn’t.” He shrugged sheepishly. “This isn’t the original, though. I had to rebuild it- and the eye- a few years back, because uh. Well. Y’know. I got like, actual engineers to fix it up once I got to Promethea, though.” Rhys demonstrated by lifting his arm and flexing the fingers, showing off the smooth range of motion. "See? It's the best Atlas engineers can build." 

Katagawa nodded, eyes fixed on Rhys' arm. He looked up, directly at Rhys' eye. “I’d like to get one of the Echo-Eyes.”

Rhys laughed, awkwardly. “It’s not always worth it, y’know. Plus, I don’t think you need it to get ahead in data-mining, hah.”

Katagawa shrugged. “I want it more for the scanning thing.”

Rhys "Yeah. Yeah, that's useful. People can get suspicious of you, though." He sipped his coffee.

Katagawa shook his head. "I don't care what people think of me." He pushed his coffee aside, and faced Rhys full on. "Scan me."

Rhys narrowly avoided spluttering again. "What?" 

Katagawa repeated, leaning forward over the table. "Scan me. I wanna hear what your database says about me. It's the Atlas one, right?"

Rhys took a bite of cake, to have time to think. He swallowed, and then spoke. "Wellllll, technically it's more of a mash-up, of Hyperion's and what remained of the Atlas one, plus, sometimes. Other stuff. Random data."

Katagawa nodded. "Scan me. I wanna see what you know."

Rhys looked at him, then shrugged. "Alright." His Echo-Eye flickered to life, and immediately latched onto Katagawa's face. A profile appeared.

KENJI KATAGAWA JR.  
Senior Assistant VP of Mergers and Acquisitions in MALIWAN  
24 Years Old  
6' 4"  
13th Child of Kenji Katagawa Sr. and Chiyoko Katagawa

Rhys read through it while Katagawa waited expectantly. As he finished and looked back into the eyes of the other man, he felt a shiver go down his spine, for what felt like no reason.

Katagawa prompted him. “Soooo?”

Rhys swallowed. “Well, it was all pretty basic stuff. Your parents, your position in Maliwan, height and age, uhm- oh, number of siblings.”

Katagawa nodded, eyes fixed on him. “And? What did you think?”

Rhys refrained from shrugging. “Well, I dunno. Nothing really. Your position in Maliwan is impressive at your age, for sure.”

“Do you think it’s because of my parents?” The words weren’t accusing, but just hearing them sounded like a trap.

Rhys hurried to correct him, flustered. “No, no no, not at all. I’m sure you’re super capable and everything!”

Katagawa, finally leaned back and looked away, attempted to beckon a cat to him. Rhys breathed a sigh of relief. “I wouldn’t be angry if you had. It’s a common assumption.” A orange cat slowly approached Katagawa, and rubbed against his leg. He smiled at it, then looked back at Rhys. “And they’ve definitely made it easier, I won’t lie. But with twelve older siblings, most of what I have I had to get myself.”

Rhys nodded. “Oh, for sure. I totally- yeah.” He picked up his mug again, and took a long sip, tension leaving his shoulders as he heard Katagawa’s fork clink against the plate.

They didn’t speak again until Rhys took his last sip of coffee. As soon as he did so, Katagawa shoved his chair back from the table and stood again. “Alright, well, you’ve seen the tamer parts of Maliwan, and the Zanara. Are you ready for the real fun?”

Rhys nodded, hesitantly.

Katagawa beckoned for him to follow, leading him out of the cat cafe, into the culture-shock of a modern hallway. He started making random twists and turns, and for once, wasn’t focussed on having Rhys walk right next to him. As Rhys followed, he began to feel a thumping vibration through the floor, and then picked up on music. Ah.

They rounded a corner and came across a line of people, all waiting to get in to what was clearly a dance club of some sort. Katagawa pushed past the line easily, and Rhys stuck close behind him, whispering “Sorry, sorry.”

This had been what he was expecting from the beginning. A large dark room, lit in neon colors that reflected the elements, a pounding bass beat, and a general sense of debauchery. As Rhys glanced at the dancefloor, he saw Zainia, his VP of Finance, topless and pressed up against a random guy. He quickly looked down again, sweating, and nearly walked into Katagawa’s back. The corner of the other man’s mouth tilted up at this, but he said nothing, putting one hand on Rhys’ shoulder and pushing him into a seat. “I’ll go get us something to drink. Wait here.” Katagawa walked off. Rhys looked around the room, taking it in. There was a wide range of dancing, but most of it tended towards grinding. He saw another one of his employees, and glanced down.

Katagawa returned, holding two shots in each hand. Two were bright green, and the other two were orange and purple. He set them down on the table, carefully, and then slid into the booth. As soon as Junior was situated, he picked up one of the green ones and downed it.

The whole night, Katagawa hadn’t touched Rhys very much. He was slightly touchier than it was perhaps common to be with a contemporary, but within business bounds. That careful distance and professionalism disappeared. He plastered himself to Rhys’ side, squirming an arm between him and the seat. Katagawa nestled his chin into Rhys’ neck, and whispered directly into his ear. “I really like you, Rhys.”

Rhys, hand around one of the green shots, stiffened.

Katagawa slid his other hand around the shot as well, and slowly lifted it to the other man’s mouth. Rhys swallowed, instinctively, and as he did so, Katagawa bit his earlobe.

Rhys dropped his glass and shivered violently for a second. Katagawa moved back a couple inches. “Do we need to wait for that? That’s alright. I can be patient.”

He extricated his arm, and scootched back. Rhys took a deep breath, suddenly feeling calmer.  
Rhys hadn’t expected him to come onto him, honestly. It was fairly obvious that Junior had a bit of a business boner for him, judging on the invitation alone, but a, well, literal boner was unexpected. 

Katagawa took another shot, in the corner of Rhys’ vision, the bright orange one. Rhys gave his head a quick shake, and then grabbed the purple one and took it. Katagawa smiled.  
“They’re good, aren’t they? The green ones are Corrosive Damage, and the purple one is a Slagged.” Katagawa sounded sardonic, and Rhys looked at him. Katagawa smirked and shrugged. “Marketing. What can you do?”

He leaned close to Rhys again, placing a hand onto his thigh. “I really admire you, Rhys. You brought Atlas back from the brink. We at Maliwan could use that. I could use that. I’ve got pull with the head of Mergers and Acquisitions. We could make you comfortable. We could-”

Rhys lifted a hand and placed it against Katagawa’s chest, pushing him away firmly. “Nonono, I don’t- I don’t want that, I. I’m happy with Atlas.”

Katagawa’s face stiffened.

Rhys, steadily feeling fuzzier, tried to rally him. “Plus, you’ve got sooo many siblings. I’d- I’d never make it, y’know? I- I- hm.”

Katagawa, confident smirk plastered back on, nodded. “Oh, okay. I get it. I can take care of it. I’ve thought about it, anyway.”

Rhys gave him a wobbly smile. “Do- Have you?”

Katagawa nodded again. “Don’t worry, Rhys. Next time I ask you, the problems will be totally gone.”

Rhys nodded, muzzily and then his head thunked onto the table.

____________________________________________________________________________

When Rhys woke up the next morning, he was back on his own ship, sprawled fully clothed across his own bed. His head was pounding and he really needed to pee.His Echo-Eye blinked with one notification, and he opened it out of curiosity. 

Katagawa Jr’s voice, husky-sounding, beamed directly into Rhys’ head. “Rhys! Buddy! Hope you’re feeling alright! You hit it pretty hard last night. We didn’t even get a chance to dance.” Rhys winced at the thought. He barely knew Katagawa, and being vulnerable around him wasn’t great.

Katagawa continued, unheeded. “I would’ve taken care of you allll night, but some of your employees weren’t too hot on that, and they took you from me. Pretty caring, buddy! But, Rhys-” And Katagawa’s voice sharpened. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon. And by the time we see each other again, I just want to reiterate Rhys, the issues we talked about will be taken care of.” Katagawa paused, clearly to emphasize something, though what, Rhys didn’t know. “And when that happens, I know you’ll reconsider my offer. Anyway, bye! For now.”

Rhys didn’t know what offer Katagawa was referring to, and he was worried about the fact he’d apparently lost so much time, but he wasn’t going to ask Katagawa about it. He closed his eyes again, trying to go back to sleep. He’d ask his secretary or something later. It probably wasn’t important.

**Author's Note:**

> haha yeah! rhysagawa! i love it so much, and just ended up writing a weird pre-canon thing for it! this'll probably have a post-canon au sequel that's just porn, so look forward to that if you're at all interested in it.


End file.
